The next morning comes with not much ceremony. My new clothes wait for me and my old ones are hung in the closet. Downstairs I hear someone humming along to what's on the radio. I sit up and stretch with voices coming up from down there. I couldn't hear them as clearly as before. But I put on the shirt and pants provided to me and yawn. Then following the scent I march my way down the steps hearing the talking getting louder. I seem to forget that Mack owns a restaurant.

  People bustle in from outside for the breakfast rush and Loredana is already awake, wearing a different colored set of the same clothing from yesterday, and calmly drinking an espresso. She's munching on what I can only assume is her own breakfast. I sit down at the bar and that little guy from st night dances out from the back, "Dayyyy ooo. Daaaaayyy oooo. Dayyyy." it says before giving me a menu and then moonwalks backward into the kitchen.

  I shake my head and I hear Mack yell, "SONUVABITCH!"

  It turns out the little thing was a Stand and it stepped on a broom and the handle knocked it on the head. Jolyne comes down from the back and walks in. Her gaze locks with the little Stand wandering out dizzily and she sees me too.

  "Hey." she greets, "How'd you sleep?"

  "I didn't." I answer looking down at my food and thinking of other mornings.

  Jolyne nods, "I didn't either. Probably 'cause Mack snores a lot and the walls are paper thin."

  "Buongiorno, my friends!" Loredana excims, wrapping her arms around both Jolyne and I's shoulders, "Come stai?"

  "Uhhhh..." Jolyne looks to me for help and I shrug.

  She rolls her eyes, "I barely got any sleep and neither did Daniel here."

  "Oh, well... that's unfortunate. After breakfast we'll pile into the bus and get over to Gracend." she gives us both a serene smile.

  Sacred Heart floats me several ptes of my own and I chow down. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit. Whatever I could eat to wash that persistent sickly sweetness of blood away from my throat. Every time I think of st night there's this underlying feeling of dread about what I had done.

  "So I guess we're going to see the King?" Jolyne asks, "Seems like some kinda bullshit to me but hey if it is real I wouldn't be shocked."

  "I wouldn't be shocked considerin' all the conspiracy theories." Mack comes out of the kitchen with a smile, "All the theories that he escaped fame by faking his death an' all. The bastard probably came back to suck up more talent."

  Although... that mask was odd. It wasn't exactly the stone masks found with the Pilr Men or the one that I heard about when I was little. I need to get a better look. I continue eating as the others do and my thoughts are pgued by the idea of there being more monsters than just a revived rockstar. After that, Mack locks up the restaurant because he just does Breakfast and Dinner, "Mostly 'cause my pce is a haven for those that walk in the night." he shrugs with a smile and goes to get the 'bus' as Loredana called it.

  Loredana smiles as we're waiting, "Now remember, we're going into his den. Anything that tips you off to something. Anything at all? You use these." She hands us small hand radios, "If it gets knocked away, our Stands are good as any."

  "So what? Are we gonna split up and look for clues like Scooby Doo?" Jolyne asks.

  "What's Scooby Doo?" I ask, tilting my head a little as they both look at me like I'm from another pnet. Which I might as well be. The bus was a Volkswagen Minibus that had bck as its main color and silver as the accented bits. We all get on and Mack taps the wheel almost impatiently. Like he's uncomfortable with the whole thing. His stand sits on the center console kicking its feet to some music only it can hear all over again.

  We begin our drive and I can't help but ask the question, "So why are you so against helping out Gracend?"

  "It ain't about the house, Brother Daniel. It's about the man." he starts as he merges into traffic.

  "See, I ain't going in there. I'm not savin' that hack." Mack huffs, "My great grandfather invented the damn Blues, an' what does he do?! Make a buncha teenyboppers cream their panties?!" he leans against the horn.

  "Look, Mack you don't HAVE to participate, you can just stay in the bus." Loredana reasons.

  "Good! Because I've seen enough horror movies to know that the second I get in there I'm marked for death! No thanks. I understand it was the times, but we all deserved better." he turns his attention back to the road as Jolyne and I practically cling to the safety handles.

  Mack was the epitome of what I would learn as a 'Memphis Driver'. Irritable, ignores traffic rules, and is prone to rage. Sacred Heart appears in the window and looks like its about to hurl. Jolyne barks out.

  "W-Watch it! I might get carsick!"

  "Day! O!" Mack's stand hops down with a pstic bag and sets it in her p, scuttling back to the center console and swinging its legs. She looks down at it and gulps almost like she wants to die. I don't really want her to throw up so Sacred Heart almost moves to get one too.

  But I stop when a few turquoise strings grab one and sling it back to her. She catches it and keeps a hold on it. When we finally get there, there's crime scene tape around the main house's entrance and cops around the front of it. Jolyne scoffs and hangs back near me as Loredana takes point. Mack parks it right at the curb and just before we leave he tells us...

  "No matter what, give that rhinestone man one for me. Right 'cross his stupid mug." I nod and whip on my shades. My eyes are being bothered by the sunlight a bit. Something about facing down powerful foes has whatever changed me during the fight with Andrew Stone acting up.

  I nod and we all step towards the cops although Jolyne slows up, "Hey ah... let's go over here." she grabs my wrist and leads me towards a couple of big pnes.

  "One's a Lockheed and one's a something something 850 he named after his daughter, neat huh?" she sputters, "I mean... look, I've only been here once when my Dad was doing a special program at the Pink Pace."

  She sighs and stares up at them almost scornfully, "What wouldn't I give to have a pne named after me."

  "Pnes are long tubes full of demons. My father says so." I blurt that out like a fun fact and she ughs, "I mean... I never thought that but isn't that weird?"

  "What kinda bullshit is that?!" she ughs, "Oh no, normal people! First Css?! Coach?! God save me!" she leans against me and ughs like she hasn't ughed in a long time.

  "Man, Dannyboy, you're funny. First the Scooby Doo thing and now you're calling pnes demonic?" she looks up at me and I can't help but hear Loredana talk with the officers. She wove some string between us and her, letting us listen in without drawing too much attention.

  "So you're Mr. Handy's Specialists?" one of them asks.

  "Yes sir, I'm Loredana Zeppeli, and over there are my associates Mr. Rose and Miss Parton." she smiles, "So what's the situation?"

  "Well, it turns out that the meditation garden had a pretty big disturbance occur a few weeks ago after the Gracend Holy Festival." he says and I grin.

  "Oh! The Holy Festival! I love going to that." I chirp and get invested. Of course it's the one day every year I get to freely wander around somewhere without being viciously protected. But judging by the mask in the photo...

  Something really horrible happened here in Gracend.

  Loredana's eyes lock with mine, "Mr. Rose? Come take a look at this."

  I move over and there sitting on the table they set up for evidence is a mask wrapped in a pstic bag. My blood runs ice cold. I pick it up and I know what it is. It's a once-pristine smooth marble. Marred red-brown with three week old bloodstains. There's precious stones inid and golden spikes. Fit for the King of Rock n' Roll. The officers watch as I turn it and see the same red-brown on the ends of the spikes.

  "Are there any officers in the house right now?" I ask, "With anything more than pistols? Body armor? Something that won't get them killed?" I move towards the foyer entrance.

  "Why?! What's he doing?!" one of them gasps.

  "Trying to save your men's dumb hides!" I snarl as one of them grabs me.

  "Sir! You're interfering in an active crime scene!"

  "It'll be a massacre if you don't let me go!" I yell before a man comes flying out with his uniform front all ripped up. He hits the ground drained and dead. One of them throws up and the others all pull out their firearms.

  Jolyne, Loredana, and I all face the foyer entrance. A bunch more bodies rush past us and pile perfectly into the letters in his name grotesquely bent. But the man standing there moving like he normally does is the King himself. Except his features are sharper and his teeth have fangs where the canines should be. He's covered in dried blood but doesn't seem to notice. Shimmying and shaking to his own music like Mack's little stand.

  "How ya doin'?" he asks, winking and pointing at the girls. He's got a greased back mane of bck hair and is in one of his rhinestone festooned jumpsuits. Almost like he went right back to his golden age.

  He dances a little in pce and I step forward. He notices and looks dead at me. But the deadeyed stare does nothing to cow me. I need answers. He gazes at me as I wrack my brain for a question. After a few painfully slow minutes I have the most easy one out there. Why did this happen? Or more like... what happened?

  "What happened, Mr. Presley?" I ask. Sacred Heart appearing above me just in case to guard me and my friends from any oncoming attacks. Who knows what's ahead?

  "Well I'll tell ya friend one minute I'm sleepin' an' the next I'm back up and thirstier than a man comin' across water in a desert!" he fshes a fanged grin before getting a little sad, "But... nobody's around that I know and... well, I was so thirsty y'know."

  Eyes downcast to the brown-red stain on his sleeves and sharp nails, "And then there's blood every which way. I... I killed a man. More than one."

  He stops dancing, "You're here to stop me, right?"

  Sacred Heart draws back its fist, "That's about the size of it, sir."

  Loredana steps in, "If its all the same to you, kneel and accept it. I'd hate to damage your beautiful home, Mr. Presley."

  "Huuhn..." Elvis snarls before blowing backward and fpping away further inside. We all follow him in and the door sms shut behind us. Shutters sm shut and curtains draw bathing us in darkness. Jolyne spreads her strings out in an ever-shifting net and Sacred Heart stays stalwart.

  Loredana just casually walks through the room with her hand on her sword's hilt, "Stick together and keep the net up. Sacred Heart can cover the upper angles." she states, "How long are their ranges?"

  "Just about close enough to beat the crap out of someone." I snarl, "But we won't need that..." Suddenly a torrent of crystals bsts out of the shadows and my Stand punches them to droplets. But not all of them.

  Loredana's sword fshes out of its sheath and said droplets get shattered into fractals that still dig in. She flinches and Jolyne's hit. Her Stand also tried to block some but they hit her back too. Her shoulder opens up and her hands are marred with cuts.

  "Gaah!" she yells, "Fuck, what the shit was that?"

  Loredana smiles dangerously, "Blood, Jolyne. And the King has drawn the first of it!" I look down at her bleeding wound and the same sickly sweetness leaks out of it. The smell like Mom's cooking, the liquid like honey. I back up with my breathing coming out short from my mouth and my fangs aching. My fingers twitch and Sacred Heart floats down next to me with an imperious glint in its eyes. I tense and grit my teeth.

  "Loredana, you stick with Jolyne-"

  "Like hell am I sitting back!" she cuts me off, "You two are sticking with me until we find him again!"

  Jolyne stitches up her wound as we all go up the steps with her Stand, "Shit, you think you can patch me up, Daniel? Stone Free can keep the bleeding down but you know. You got time powers?"

  "I can only rewind clothing. Flesh... I haven't tried." I look towards the oncoming darkness and she sighs.

  "Worth a shot I guess."

  Loredana gnces over her shoulder at me, "Daniel, are you well?" How can she be so calm at a time like this?! How often does stuff like this happen?! How can I even measure up?! She smiles and I can't help but have that feeling that everything is going to go wrong in a matter of seconds. Things here are far too quiet for the fact that Elvis's is a vampire and should be absolutely over the moon that he's immortal now.

  "I'm just... a little jumpy. Dark pces scare me sometimes. A lot." Sacred Heart looks down at me with a scoff and a shake of its head. I can't help but bottle it up even more and shove it down deeper inside.

  "I'm in the BUILDINGGGGGGG!" Elvis swoops down and grips me with his legs, "C'mon, show me why I can't be who I was BORN TO BE, BOY!"

  I ssh into his Rhinestone studded chest as they keep hitting me over and over again. The blood and flying filling my body with so much exhiration it's enough to kill a man. We burst through the wall to the Jungle Room and I nd on the floor.

  Elvis scrambles on top of me and Sacred Heart punches him off with a heavy, "MUDA!" More rhinestones cut into me as I keep punching him. All I can feel is pain. But I keep going. Smming him around the tacky room smashing the bawdy furniture. I even throw him into the rock waterfall, hearing his head thunk meatily on the water. Bits of furniture stab into him, cutting deep and leaving wounds all over.

  Sacred Heart grins as I rush him, still ripping and tearing. My heart pounds and my senses are filled to the brim with sweet smells, musical sounds, and sights only I can see. Heat and daytime in the darkness. My body feels like a 100%. Like I'm using every bit of my strength to pound this relic to dust!

  This is power.

  Raw.

  Untamed.

  POWER.

  I stop and preen a little, "I, Daniel! Have overcome you, you relic of some halcyon age! My power trumps all! I will stand at the pinnacle of my WORLD! Which I create with my own HANDS!" I advance as he sways away from me.

  "My death... my life... all worthless, baby..." Elvis sputters covered in wounds and his face a bloody ruin as Sacred Heart holds him back. I decide to take that as my opportunity to smash him to shreds!

  My hand screams towards him ready to stab him right in the chest, and....!

  "WRRRRRRYYYYYYYYAAAAHHHHHH!" I scream and all the sudden a bde stabs into his side with a burning blue aura. Elvis stiffens before Loredana yanks out the bde and something comes out with it as the vampire spasms. It snaps me out of the powertrip and back into reality.

  "Watch n' learn, lil' Danny." she extends her hand and a sword extends out of her scabbard and the hilt rests in her hand, "Alright, Brocas Helm, let's show Danny how to sy a vampire!" She moves faster than even Sacred Heart can follow. The sound of cutting flesh and fabric, and the crunch of bone sounds out as Elvis's body does what can only be described as a grotesque st show. Dancing with blood coating the shag carpeting and kitschy Polynesian-Hawaiian decor in dark and red.

  "All I wanted... was to... live... the way I wanted..." he gasps before Loredana poses with her hand over her heart and her sword sliding into it's sheath.

  "I wanted... a comeback... tour. My damn heart couldn't... take it."

  "L'anima sarà tagliata!" she decres as Elvis's body seizes and a bright gold cloud spews out of his mouth, "This is the power of my Stand." She bows as if there was a curtain call. Appearing in the clouds is Elvis. Pristine and untouched by our fight. Absolutely healed by the fact that its his soul and not his body. He opens his eyes and looks down at his hands with a bright smile.

  He looks down at Loredana and I, "Thank ya. Thank ya very much." he gives us a mock salute, "Now I can rest."

  "You've earned it, Elvis." Loredana smiles before blue strings wrap around the both of us and yank us backward. Goldvis gets knocked out of the way by his body. He shambles to his feet staring at us with marred eyes and he begins to shine almost impossibly bright for anyone to look at directly.

  "Nuuuuugggggghhhhh! NOOOOOOO!" He's healing quickly and Jolyne just yanked us out of a huge bst of rhinestones. Goldvis floats after us and his bloody body trundles after almost like he wants to apologize for what's happening but he's completely and utterly confused same as we are.

  "What's goin' on?!" he yelps, "I thought if ya knocked my soul outta my body you'd win!"

  "Normally, that happens!" Loredana yells as we run and Jolyne tries to trip his body up. Getting more ssh wounds from the body's cws. She doesn't even flinch but I can tell she's in pain. A warm almost fuzzy feeling fills my chest when I see her bravely trying to keep us all alive.

  "Well it didn't!" Jolyne yells, "I can't keep trying to tie him up! Do something, Daniel!"

  Then we hear it. Massive wings fpping in the air. Pursuing us on wings of a jumpsuit is Elvis's body screaming at us as Sacred Heart still tries to keep him back with various pieces of furniture or speeding up clumsy punches to rain down on him.

  But he dodges them. Wheeling through the air like a bat does, "I HAVEN'T LEFT THE BUILDING!" he roars. Even more grotesquely monstrous than before. Less a man and more a creature of the night from the old stories of Bat People on the Moon.

  Loredana stops, turns on her heel to face him, and grips her sword hilt, "Fine then! Come at me!" she snaps.